Faculty Turnover at American Colleges and Universities: Analyses of AAUP Data

This paper uses institutional level data collected by the American Association of University Professors as part of their annual survey of faculty members\u27 compensation to analyze faculty turnover. Analyses of aggregate data over almost a twenty-year period highlight how remarkably stable faculty retention rates have been nationwide and how little they vary across broad categories of institutions. Analyses of variations in faculty retention rates across individual institutions stress the role that faculty compensation levels play. Higher levels of compensation appear to increase retention rates for assistant and associate professors (but not for full professors) and the magnitude of this effect grows larger as one moves from institutions with graduate programs, to four-year undergraduate institutions, to two-year institutions

The Flow of New Doctorates

[Excerpt] As noted by Bowen and Sosa, their projections of the supply side of the academic labor market, which are typical of those used in other studies, are based on a number of simplifying assumptions. Similarly, their proposed policy remedies to increase the flow of new doctorates, such as increasing financial support for graduate students and shortening the time it takes students to receive degrees, are made presenting only scanty evidence on the likely magnitude of supply responses to these changes. This essay, which draws heavily from my study (Ehrenberg 1991), reviews the academic literature and available data (from a wide range of sources) to summarize what we know about new doctorate supply and what we need to know to make informed policy decisions

Changes in the Academic Labor Market for Economists

[Excerpt] American colleges and universities are increasingly substituting non-tenure track full-time and part-time faculty for full-time tenured and tenure track faculty. Moreover, institutions of public higher education, where almost two-thirds of the full-time faculty members at four-year institutions are employed, are under severe financial pressure. The share of state budgets devoted to public higher education is declining. The salaries of economics department faculty members at public higher education institutions have fallen substantially relative to the salaries of their counterparts at private higher education institutions and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the publics to compete for top faculty in economics. Moreover, it is at the economics departments in public institutions where the greatest increase in the usage of non-tenure track faculty has also occurred. This article begins by presenting levels of Ph.D. production, and then discusses factors determining demand for economics departments, differences between public and private universities, and the range of pay between departments within universities

The Agricultural Economics Profession at 100 Years: A Profile and Projections for the Future

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Academic Labor Supply

[Excerpt] The plan of this study is as follows. In the remainder of this chapter, some background data are presented on the academic labor market and new Ph.D. production in the United States. Chapter 7 describes a schematic model of academic labor supply and indicates the underlying trends since 1970 in a number of variables that contribute to projections of shortages of faculty. In Chapter 8, a general model of occupational choice and the decision to undertake and complete graduate study is sketched. This framework, available data, and the prior academic literature are then used to address students\u27 choice of college majors, decisions to undertake and complete graduate study, decisions on the time it takes to complete Ph.D. programs, and decisions on choices of sectors of employment for new and experienced Ph.D.s. Chapter 9, addresses issues relating to the age structure of the faculty and retirement policies as well as minority and female representation in academe. Finally, Chapter 10 considers whether a shortage of American Ph.D.s would really matter and/or could be eased by increased reliance on foreign students trained in the United States, faculty currently employed in foreign institutions, and faculty without doctorates. It also briefly summarizes the implications of the study for both future research needs and public policy

Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization and the Workforce Revolution

This new research identifies online competency-based learning as the solution to shifting demands for specialized workforce skills and the front runner for disrupting higher education